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The Weird Week in Review

Woman Stuck in Toilet at Mets Game

An unidentified woman attending a Mets game Wednesday lost her gold tooth, which fell into a toilet at Citi Field. She reached into the toilet to retrieve the tooth, but then her arm became stuck. Security guards heard her screaming and entered the restroom, but they couldn't free her. A plumber was called in from the company that installed the new field's toilets. As the woman waited with water flushing over her arm, a crowd of baseball fans gathered around to watch. She was eventually freed, but did not recover the gold tooth. The Mets lost to Atlanta, 8-7.

Penguin Sports

The Penguathlon is a sporting event for penguins at the Kelly Tarlton Arctic Encounter in Orakei, New Zealand. Penguins compete in five events: football, Frisbee, surfing, swing ball, and waddle races. The colony at the Arctic Encounter has 80 King and Gentoo penguins in its colony. The sports are showcased as an enrichment exercise for the birds. The Penguathlon, which will run the rest of this month, may become an annual event.

Man Robs Store with Banana, Eats Evidence

John Steven Szwalla was arrested for attempted armed robbery of a computer cafe in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He approached the store owner, Bobby Ray Mabe while pointing something that was under his shirt. Mabe and a store customer jumped on Szwalla, held him down, and called police. The "weapon" turned out to be a banana! Szwalla ate the banana before the police arrived.

"And the deputy said, 'Ah hah! He ate the evidence,'" Mabe said. "But we had the banana peel and they took a picture of it."

Deputies joked about charging him with destroying evidence, said Major Brad Stanley, a spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff's office.

Doctor Uses Household Drill on Boy's Head

12-year-old Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia. His parents rushed him to the local hospital, where Dr. Rob Carson saw the child's brain was bleeding. The hospital did not have the equipment for brain surgery, so he ordered a drill from the maintenance department in order to open the skull and relieve the pressure. Carson consulted with Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace by phone, who talked him through the procedure. Rossi was up and walking around within a couple of days, and has since made a full recovery.

Bodybuilding Event Canceled

There were twenty entrants ready to compete at the Belgian championship bodybuilding competition. Then suddenly there were none! The disappearing act was sparked by a visit from officials ready to test for drugs. Doping official Hans Cooman and two colleagues entered the venue and all twenty competitors just left rather than submit to testing. Steroid testing last year eliminated 75% of competitors from the bodybuilding event, either for steroid use or for refusing to take the test.

Nationwide Alert for Missing Teddy Bear

A desperate Australian student who is studying in GÃ¶ttingen, Germany contacted German police after she lost the beloved teddy bear she'd had since childhood. She sent a recent picture of the bear by email. Police were touched and issued a nationwide alert which was picked up by TV and newspapers. No word yet on any possible leads in the missing bear case.

Unconscious Man Found Without Cell Phone Help

An unnamed 62-year-old man in Carrollton, Ohio was found unconscious after an 11-hour search Thursday morning. He was reported to have taken "several bottles of pills" before fleeing from a domestic disturbance. Carroll County sheriff Dale Williams contacted Verizon for help to locate the man using his cell phone signal, but the operator refused because the man was behind in his payments. Williams negotiated with the operator, and the sheriff agreed to make a $20 payment on the bill. However, police and firefighters found the man before the deal was accomplished. He was taken to a hospital and released later that day.

"I was more concerned for the person's life," Williams said. "It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill. Ridiculous."

Also on Mental Floss:

DID YOU KNOW? Marlon Brando hated memorizing lines so much that he posted cue cards everywhere to help him get through scenes.
He even asked for lines to be written on an actress's posterior. (That request was denied.)